"We are a Pre-teen"

As a graduation gift for my cousin and I, my dad sent us to Vegas with my mom and Jazz.  You see the three oldest cousins are all girls and all of us graduated with a different degree this summer (a point our grandmother enjoyed sharing with everyone), each one two weeks apart from the other.  I got my Master's and my cousin, Betsy, who went to Vegas with us got her Bachelor's.

The graduating cousins all in Atlanta for the first graduation for Natasha (Left to right: Me with Master's, Betsy with Bachelor's, and Natasha with PhD)

The same week of my graduation, Jazz turned 12.  This meant a shared birthday and graduation party as well as attending her third graduation ceremony in a month.  We were all bracing ourselves for the worst.  Jealousy, pouting, confusion...  She was amazing.  Family who had not seen her for a year could not believe how much maturity she gained in the last year (it's amazing what can happen when you remove someone from an environment that was causing them pain). 

Birthday/Graduation cake!

Though in many ways she is still about 5 years old, she has officially become a pre-teen.  And luckily for us, she rising to the challenge with more grace than any of us could have anticipated.

While on our Vegas trip experiencing all of the new joys we have with a special needs, pre-teen, girly girl running around, my cousin wrote this song that I think appropriately sums up our weekend and the early experiences of living with a special needs pre-teen thus far.  It is sung to the toon of the original "Flipper" theme song. 

Link to the theme song just in case you need a reminder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EifnM3pRLdQ

"We are a Pre-teen"

We are a pre-teen, pre-teen, no one was ready

It happened one night, right before our eyes.

We know that pre-teens, live in a mirror

Obessessed over glitter, glitter on all things.

Exploring with make-up and glittery things.

Must brush my hair now and gaze in the mirror.

Hours have gone by and no shoes have appeared

And so we will be late once again.

We are a pre-teen, pre-teen, oh no not more glitter

Your hair looks fine and the blow dryer is breaking.

We must do all things now, with no one else's help.

What were we thinking, we just weren't ready!

Much Love!

On our Vegas trip we did one of those old-time photo shoots